A/N: Jake's appeared in Negotiating the Terms of Our Reconciliation. (Jake, Gilda, Stacie make re-appearances here)

The swag bags that Santana gives to Jake & Gilda are mentioned in Where In the World Is Brittana? (Brittany created the design on the bags and the items inside the bags and a French company licensed the design.)

The "Agatha Christie-esque" novel name is also a throw back to WItWIB?

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Chapter 9 – Dayton, OH (September 27 – October 2)

xoxoxoxoxoxo

After leaving Buffalo, they were in the downhill stretch of the tour; Ohio. Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and, finally, Dayton.

They left Cincinnati on the morning of September twenty-seventh and had the day off when they reached Dayton a little before noon.

"Britt? You know what we should do?"

Brittany looked up from her laptop where she had been editing some photos. "Go to Jake's?"

Santana grinned and nodded. "Go to Jake's. Let's invite everyone. We'll get Mercedes, the dancers, the crew, the drivers and we'll take over for the night."

Brittany grinned back at her. "Sounds good."

"What sounds good?" Mercedes asked as she came back onto the bus.

"There's this great restaurant not too far from here called Jake's Seafood & Steak. We were gonna invite everyone out tonight. Our treat."

Mercedes smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"You're gonna love it, Mercedes!" Brittany grinned.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

"Girl, this place does not look like my kind of place." Mercedes eyed the exterior of Jake's.

Santana laughed and pulled open the right hand door.

The whole crew had joined them; six dancers, six crew members, three bus drivers, the tour manager and his assistant, and the three of them. Santana was sure Jake's could accommodate them.

"Hi! Welcome to Jake's! How many tonight?" Stacie was hostessing again and her voice was still too chipper.

"Hi, Stacie," Brittany smiled.

"Oh, hey! I remember y'all! By the dance floor, right?"

Brittany nodded. "There's twenty of us tonight."

"Is Gilda here tonight?" Santana asked. She had, unbeknownst to Brittany (and to Brittany's utter mortification), packed two souvenir tote bags with Brittany's design on them full of swag into her luggage when she saw they'd be near Dayton on the tour.

"Sure is! I'll seat y'all in her section." Stacie grabbed the menus and led them to the tables by the dance floor. She grabbed a couple of busboys and they arranged six tables together lining the dance floor.

"Ooooh, San! Jake added a karaoke machine!" Brittany pointed out the machine that was just slightly to the left of the old-style bubble jukebox.

"Sweet. Maybe we can do some fun singing and free-style dancing; let loose for the night."

Once Stacie got them all seated, she took their drink orders and let them know that Gilda would be right over.

"Hey, folks!" Santana raised her voice so as to be heard above the din. Once everyone had quieted down, she continued, "Tonight's on me, Brittany, and Mercedes as a thank you for all your hard work during the tour. We really appreciate everything you've done." The group all shouted out their "whoo-hoos" and "thank-yous" before settling back down to their conversations.

"Girl … you know I can't …"

"Mercedes, me and Britt, we got this," Santana cut her off, "but we wanted to include you."

"But …"

"Mercedes," Brittany interrupted this time, "we don't want to get all the glory or credit or whatever. We want them to know you appreciate them, too. We want you to know we appreciate you. You really stuck your neck out for Santana … and me, too. We're really grateful and we want to show our appreciation. Just take it, okay?"

Mercedes shook her head. "Okay. Thank you." She smiled broadly at the two other women.

They were interrupted when a plump woman, in her mid-forties with brown hair shot through with gray, and laugh lines around her eyes set a tray down near their table and started handing drinks around.

"Gilda!" Brittany jumped up and, making sure the woman wasn't holding any of their drinks, wrapped her in a big hug.

"Well, if it isn't two of my favorite customers! And you brought quite a crew with you. Can I take the fact that you're here together means you're 'on' again?" Her eyes twinkled merrily as she smiled at the two of them.

Santana grinned and stood up, hugging the older woman as well. "We've been doing a bit of touring with this one," she pointed to Mercedes, "Mercedes, this is Gilda; Gilda, this is our friend Mercedes. We've been touring for her album." She bit her lower lip. "And, yes, Britt and I are 'on' again. Pretty sure it's permanent this time."

"Oh, that's wonderful! I'm happy for you ladies! A tour? That sounds like a lot of fun! Nice to meet you, Mercedes." Gilda and two other servers finished distributing the drinks.

"Yeah, you too," Mercedes smiled.

"You folks know what you want or you need a few minutes?"

"Not sure about the rest of them but we're going to start with the seafood stuffed mushrooms, two orders. Not sure what our main courses are yet." Santana said.

Gilda nodded and jotted it down. "Okay, I'll get that right in for you," she said, moving down the tables.

Once the appetizers had been served and dinner orders had been taken, Santana stopped Gilda for a moment and handed her one of the swag bags.

"What's this for?" Gilda smiled as she took the bag.

"Britt and I did a little traveling throughout Europe last summer and Britt created that design. A French company licensed it and sent us a bunch of stuff. We wanted to give you and Jake some of it. Is he here?"

"Well, thank you! This is amazing, Brittany!" Brittany blushed at Gilda's compliment. "He is. I'll send him over when he's done on the phone." Gilda patted Brittany on the shoulder and went off to put in their orders.

They were half-way through their meals when a big man with bulging biceps, a shaved head and piercing blue eyes came over to their table.

"Ladies! So good to see you again!"

"Jake!" Brittany bounced up and hugged the man.

Jake laughed as he hugged her back. "Good to see you, too, darlin'." He smiled at Santana. "How are you both?"

"We're doing good. Our tour brought us to Dayton so we figured where better to have a meal than the best restaurant in the area." Santana grinned and stood up, briefly hugging the big man.

"Glad you did. Who're all your friends?"

"This is our friend, Mercedes. We've been touring to promote her album." Jake shook Mercedes' hand then Santana introduced him to everyone else. She had made a point of getting to know everyone after The Caleb Incident (yet another Agatha Christie-esque novel name to add to the list, she thought with an internal eyeroll). She then handed Jake the swag bag and explained its origins.

"Well, this is really something! Thank you, ladies. Brittany, I am impressed. This is some really nice art-work."

Brittany blushed, "Thanks, Jake."

They talked for a few more moments before Jake moved off to talk to a few other patrons, leaving them to finish their meals.

Gilda stopped by to check on them. "Any chance you ladies will be entertaining us again tonight?" She smiled at them.

"What do you say, Aretha? You sing it, Britt and I'll dance it out. Whitney's Dance With Somebody?"

"Oh, you are on."

Mercedes moved over to the karaoke machine and dialed up the song as Santana and Brittany stood on the dance floor waiting. Once Mercedes started singing, the other dancers got up and joined Santana and Brittany; it didn't take long until all of them were moving in sync.

They spent several hours singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and generally having fun. When they finally decided to call it a night it was almost eleven and they were all happy but tired. Santana asked Gilda for the bill, paid it (adding a generous tip), and said good night to Gilda and Jake; promising they'd be by again before they left Ohio.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

They had just gotten onto the bus when Mercedes' phone rang.

"It's almost midnight. Who in the …" she looked at the caller ID, "Rachel."

Santana rolled her eyes and Brittany grimaced and stuck out her tongue as Mercedes answered the phone.

"Hi, Rachel. It's kind of late, what's up?"

"Mercedes! Hello! I'm so glad you answered. I don't know if you heard but my career suffered a bit of a setback and I am in Lima to try and get back on my feet and plan my next move. I decided, while I was here, to try and get the Glee Club up and running again. Kurt is here to help but we've run into a few difficulties and it occurred to me; who better to help get it up and running again than the original glee members. So I was hoping, I know your tour is almost at an end, that you and Santana and Brittany would be willing to come to Lima for a few days to help us with recruitment and whatnot."

"Hi Rach," Santana said, "Britt and I will be in Lima on the second or third; we're going to be in Lima while we decide what we want to do next. So, yeah," she looked at Brittany, who just rolled her eyes, "we'll be able to give you a hand while we're in town."

"Oh, excellent! Thank you so much. Mercedes?"

"Yeah. I'll be in Lima for a couple of days before I have to fly back to L.A. so, yeah, I guess I can help you out too."

"Thank you! Oh, this will be so much fun and I am so looking forward to seeing you all again! I've also called Quinn who promised to talk to Puck. Sam, of course, is here assisting Coach Beiste. I also left messages for Tina and Artie and hope to hear back from them."

"Okay, Rachel, it's late and we're tired and have an early performance tomorrow so we'll be in touch and let you know when we're definitely going to be back in Lima."

"Excellent! Thank …" Mercedes hung up before Rachel could start rambling again.

"Seriously, that girl, I love her but she takes fifty words to say what normal people could say in ten."

"Right? My career tanked, I'm in Lima licking my wounds, can you help me get the glee club up and running again." Santana shook her head. Brittany snorted a laugh.

"Girl, come on, be nice."

"Oh. That was nice. I mean, really? I could have mentioned how stupid and self-absorbed she was for ditching 'her dream' of Broadway not even three months after opening night for what was, quite probably, the worst television show of all time."

Mercedes just shook her head. "Anyway, I'm going to bed. See you two in the morning."

Mercedes went into the bathroom while Brittany and Santana went into their room on the bus.

"Hey, you okay with helping her?" Santana asked Brittany.

Brittany shrugged. "I mean, I guess. I don't like her; I haven't liked her for years and the way she treated you at the loft," Brittany shook her head, "but, the glee club was really great for us and I guess helping to get it going again to maybe help other kids like we were isn't a bad thing."

Santana smiled. "Honestly? Rachel may have been kind of a jerk to me but it all worked out okay in the end." They had changed and were sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for Mercedes to finish in the bathroom. Santana leaned forward and gave Brittany a peck on the lips. "I ended up with you. If I'd have stayed as her understudy, I'd have been the one who took over when she went on her wild fame chase to L.A.. I wouldn't trade what I've got with you for anything in the world; stardom included."

Brittany beamed at her. "Yeah. When you put it like that … it did all work out for the best. For me, too. You, however, are entirely too forgiving."

"Bathroom's free!"

"Come on. Bedtime."

Brittany nodded tiredly and followed Santana into the bathroom to get ready for bed.